Daniel 1:4

1:4 young men in whom there was no physical defect and who were handsome, ¹  well versed in all kinds of wisdom, well educated ²  and having keen insight, ³  and who were capable ⁴  of entering the king’s royal service ⁵  – and to teach them the literature and language ⁶  of the Babylonians. ⁷ 

Daniel 2:23

2:23 O God of my fathers, I acknowledge and glorify you,

for you have bestowed wisdom and power on me.

Now you have enabled me to understand what I ⁸  requested from you.

For you have enabled me to understand the king’s dilemma.” ⁹ 

Daniel 5:11

5:11 There is a man in your kingdom who has within him a spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, he proved to have ¹⁰  insight, discernment, and wisdom like that ¹¹  of the gods. ¹²  King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners. ¹³ 

Daniel 9:13

9:13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify ¹⁴  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ¹⁵  from your reliable moral standards. ¹⁶ 

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¹ tn Heb “good of appearance.”

² tn Heb “knowers of knowledge.”

³ tn Heb “understanders of knowledge.”

⁴ tn Heb “who had strength.”

⁵ tn Heb “to stand in the palace of the king.” Cf. vv. 5, 19.

⁶ sn The language of the Chaldeans referred to here is Akkadian, an East Semitic cuneiform language.

⁷ tn Heb “Chaldeans” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV). This is an ancient name for the Babylonians.

⁸ tn Aram “we.” Various explanations have been offered for the plural, but it is probably best understood as the editorial plural; so also with “me” later in this verse.

⁹ tn Aram “the word of the king.”

¹⁰ tn Aram “[there were] discovered to be in him.”

¹¹ tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.

¹² tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”

¹³ tc The MT includes a redundant reference to “your father the king” at the end of v. 11. None of the attempts to explain this phrase as original are very convincing. The present translation deletes the phrase, following Theodotion and the Syriac.

¹⁴ tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”

¹⁵ tn Or “by gaining insight.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “by your truth.” The Hebrew term does not refer here to abstract truth, however, but to the reliable moral guidance found in the covenant law. See vv 10-11.